The 5 types of law firm software you need

Invest in the right type of software to make your business achieve new levels of success. In fact, in the the legal industry, 23% of tasks can be automated.

This is easier said than done though because, in reality, a huge number of options available will most likely leave you confused about which type of legal software you actually need.

Fortunately, we got you covered. By the end, you will be able to sleep tight, knowing you made the right choice for your law firm.

To achieve maximum productivity and ultimately, fulfill the expectations of your clients, you need:

1. Online payment processing software

The first solution in our rundown of software for law firms caters perfectly to the current climate where everything is happening online. From shopping, all the way to making a dentist appointment, and yes, even when paying for legal fees. 

Although you might already have a flashy website with all the relevant info available, you might be missing out on new clients and revenue if you haven’t yet introduced the option of paying online.

Investing in an online payment processing solution will make your clients’ entire journey more convenient as they can pay for your services from the comfort of their own home, from any device available. 

This method of payment is also typically very secure. The information is safe from being compromised because it’s encrypted and transferred between two financial institutions. 

Online payment processing software also ensures you get paid faster without ever needing to worry if and when the check will clear. All payment details are instantly verified, and you’ll be notified if your client’s account has a problem, like insufficient funds.

2. Document management solution

Legal paperwork is one of the manual tasks that are important but take up too much time out of your already busy schedules. Oftentimes, this process ends up creating bottlenecks.

Also, even though a hard drive seems like a future-proof media to store your confidential files, it’s as ancient as a filing cabinet. Why use a method that brings no extra benefits?  

A legal document management software is a perfect method of storage as well as a valuable tool for productivity.

With this software, all confidential files are stored in a secure cloud and can be accessed by any employee. This means that inefficiencies occurring as a result of reduced accessibility will never happen again.

All the documents in your practice are kept organized, categorized, indexed, and most importantly — searchable.

3. Contract review software

Even if you organize your documents, your work won’t mean anything if it takes you hours to review them. Clients nowadays expect faster results, so streamlining this particular process as soon as possible is a major step in the right direction.

Contract review software can be a lifesaver when it comes to tedious repetitive tasks. Manually reviewing a legal document can take hours upon hours of double-checking terms, dates, and other important details. But with software powered by artificial intelligence and trained specifically for these tasks, you can accomplish more and much faster.

Another recurring problem when it comes to contracts is messy formatting, especially when you receive the documents from a colleague. You could spend a significant amount of time just making sure your legal document is looking consistent. Certain contract review tools such as Loio can help you with this problem as well.

This is a Microsoft Word extension that scans your document and turns the whole ordeal into a simple matter of clicking a few buttons.

For instance, Loio can automatically highlight key information in your contract, giving you easy access to all the information needed to do an in-depth review process in a fraction of the time.

It also has an option of automatically fixing styling issues, as well as allowing you to easily arrange numbering and bulleting in your legal document.

4. Client intake software

Every step of your client journey plays an important role in a positive customer experience, from the first time your client visits the website to the time when the case is finished. 

The fact that you will get more work in the long run through referrals should be a good reason in itself to consider investing in a client intake software solution.

But the biggest benefit is that it simplifies the entire intake process in your law firm, something that takes significantly more time when done manually.

Using client intake software eliminates the process of manual data entry as it allows you to add simple intake forms to your website that potential clients can then fill out. All of their data is logged, including the information about when they want you to contact them.

This also means that you no longer need to rely on manual paperwork. So why would not you use the benefits of a brand-new document management software as well? 

Plus, client intake software also lets you track every case and set reminders, which are all added into a client’s file. Your customers will appreciate the fact you are always one step ahead and can recall the information about their case in an instant.

5. Cloud-based legal billing software

Traditional time-keeping methods leave too much room for improvement. If you are still using timesheets to record working hours, there is a chance that billable time is being lost.

In addition to that, manually referring to entries in extensive paperwork when generating invoices and calculating how much time you took on a particular client is a lengthy process in itself. A process that’s not billable, as you’re probably already aware.

With legal time and billing software, you can make sure that your work hours are tracked, invoices and reports are automatically generated, and the payment reminders are sent to the clients — regardless of whether you are billing them hourly or flat rates.

What’s even better is that if you choose a cloud-based billing software solution, you can use any device anywhere to generate invoices or track hours as all the information is stored online.

Making the right choices for a better business

As a result of the legal tech boom, there are plenty of options available for law firms of any size. This doesn’t mean you need to buy every type of software available. Some you may not need as they don’t bring any clear benefits to your law practice. It all depends on your business’ specific needs.

All the suggestions we made can enhance the client experience, save time, and increase productivity. In this day and age, these types of software solutions are a necessity to keep up with the changes happening in the legal industry.

The best thing is, any law firm or a solo practitioner can easily implement this software and put it to good use. That says a lot.